MK Michael Oren Says US Should Recognize Israel’s Golan Heights

Member of Knesset Michael Oren (Kulanu) said the U.S. should recognize Israel’s control over the Golan Heights region, and that he has advised Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu to discuss the issue with President-elect Donald Trump.

“It’s very important for the U.S. to back a formal recognition of Israel’s control of the Golan,” Oren, the deputy minister for diplomacy at the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, told Bloomberg News. “If it weren’t for Israel’s presence, the Syria war would be spilling over to Jordan. So Israel’s presence in the Golan is indispensable for Mideast stability.”

Netanyahu said Tuesday that he is planning to meet with Trump soon.

Israel gained control of the strategically important Golan Heights region from Syria as a result of the 1967 Six-Day War, when Syria invaded northern Israel. In 1981, Israel extended sovereignty over the region which the international community has not recognized.

In the past, Israel had been willing to negotiate with Syria over the territory in exchange for official Syrian recognition of Israel. But with Syria now consumed and fractured by a bloody civil war with no foreseeable resolution, the Jewish state has made it clear that it will not withdraw from the Golan and that it instead plans to boost the number of Israeli residents in the region. JNS.ORG